Energy to go up 64% in October

[ToastedWaffle]

And 4% in January.

Fuck sake!
I dont even have an AIBU, this is just fucking ridiculous.

It is, they sold off the gas companies. The UK has a surplus of gas and the Gov't owned it but gave licences to the energy companies to mine it and gave away control!

how else will these utility companies make money unless they charge high prices? It clear in the Uk that business come before anything else and when you read the posts about people struggling for money they are told

work harder

It's actually really scary.
I hate the idea of chosing between heating and eating being the big thing. We spent years without heating. If we were still in that position we would be washing less and in cold water.
(we already washed the dishes in cold water or used the electric stove top from dinner to keep some water warm for the dishes. using a bog pot would be a treat because the hot pot would rewarm the washing water.)
I remember getting angry with my baby who was starting to crawl because he kept crawling away from the hot water bottle. his feet were blue.

Thankfully DH got a better paid job and we kept living like he hadn't and we got out if poverty but fuck me. He was working 60-70hrs a week plus commuting time and we couldn't afford to heat our tiny crappy flat. things have always been bad. it's just come into light now its getting harder for more people.

We only put the heating on last winter and we were so grateful! But I suppose we will go back to having it off. At least we already have the hot water bottles and electric blankets and thick socks.

There's some major bullshit going on somewhere. Energy companies said bills have to go up as their costs are up so much and yet they also posted record profits before the rises, hence the windfall tax arguments. I'm no economist but how does that make sense?

We're lucky as we fixed in December until the end of next year but Jesus we'll be in for a shock then.

Exactly this. Can’t understand why any w/c person would vote for a party of millionaires and billionaires whose primary interest is in helping the already wealthy 1% and corporate donors.The UK voting population defies belief!! We have been living and working overseas for the last 3 years with 1 year to go and I’m absolutely dreading our return to the UK and hard times filled with the exact money worries we had when we left.

Exactly this! Oil prices have not gone up. Where is this increase coming from? Government need to step in at this point and regulate. My industry was regulated and has less of a bloody impact in peoples lives then fuel costs…. It’s a joke!

Amazing. Every word of what you just said… was wrong.

Energy companies ≠ retail energy suppliers.

BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total may have made record profits. For energy suppliers to residential customers, they are on razor thin margins.

The windfall (which only works once), is on the likes of BP and Shell, where they will be paying more corporation tax anyway since it’s not some flat rate. The likes of Octopus and Ovo or Bulb made so much money that we lost 30 companies last winter from them not being able to raise prices to compensate for increased spot and forward contract prices before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Think about that.

I honestly don’t know anyone in RL this ignorant.

i am guessing you have never ever ever read anything any business news? Never listen to the news?

Oil prices

oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/

There's a lot to choose from.

And of course the US $ is doing well compared to other currencies - and oil is charged in dollars.

Anyone who understands this chart should know that taxing energy companies now is a sure fire way to burn our future down faster than we already are.

Wait until oil actually starts reducing in output globally. We’ve been on a plateaux for years, and it’s murdered economic growth without printing money. Imagine how hard it will be when oil gets less and less available globally, each year. Forever.

Sri Lanka is the first domino.

Anyone who relies on a car to work is fucked. Permanent rationing. There won’t be any reason to waste such a precious resource on anything other than diesel for farming and logistics.

Yes, this sucks. But everyone has been taking for granted energy WAY too much. Bill is coming due.

You're confusing energy distributers with oil giants.

I understand that but British Gas etc had massive profits. Yes some of the smaller companies went out of business, however they spent so much time undercutting each other whilst struggling against the big companies it was almost inevitable they would go out of business with or without price rises. We'll soon be in a position where we'll have a choice between the big six energy companies and no one else. Very convenient for them don't you think? Almost like the fuel and energy companies planned it this way.

Think about that 😁

No I'm not. It's not just oil prices up it's gas as well. Centrica posted profits of over £900 million for the last financial year. They own British Gas and are one of the main gas suppliers in the UK. £900 million ffs. They aren't struggling but every other fucker is.

I am tempted to switch off all electric and gas to my home at the mains and live in my garden. A home is too expensive to run. My friend has just joined the swimming baths so she can get showers there and keep warm and I am buying a fire pit for my garden to keep warm. The government has allowed this to happen as all they are interested in are businesses and money not actual peoples lives. Who’s to say if there’s not more increases in the future. No one can afford their bills now so something needs to be done soon before October or we are going to see more homeless people and the elderly with hyperthermia. People wont be able to cover all these increases as it seems everyone is putting their prices up. I have seen increases in my rent, phone bills, water rates, council tax and food bills etc. The government want to see people with nothing and the few powerful people in authority in charge it’s what’s they have worked for all along. New world order. We are going to see riots and social unrest on a huge scale over the next few months and years.

This makes me want to cry.

Not for myself, but for all the people who won't be able to afford it (I don't know yet if I'll be one of them) and will suffer. It's fu*king immoral!!!

How much profit are these companies still going to be making?!

An obscene shitload is my guess

@GreenLunchBox

"They literally printed more money, so those three things you listed are a con trick to keep us compliant"

+++

How do you think the Government borrows more money? They phone up the Bank Of England and say please create an extra £450 billion which does down as increased Government debt. They don't physically have a printing press making the extra £450 billion.

Also if you remember what happened to the Weimar Republic you will see what effect creating more money has in inflation.

Npower walked away from domestic energy supply and were bought out by E.ON due to no profit to be made in the UK serving households.

SSE became part of OVO two years ago due to the same reasons.

You focus on British Gas' profits, but actually, their retail arm has made losses despite their parent company, Centrica, making high profits. The reason for this is that businesses are subsidising domestic rates here, because the price cap has meant they are unprofitable which led to the downfall of npower and SSE in recent years.

In 2017, Centrica made £816 million in total operating profit. However, British Gas which sells to the household, made a loss of £71.9 million. And this hasn't really changed because of the wholesale price increases being even more massive and the price cap still being in place. This is precisely why the smaller firms, that are basically just trading desks because of reduced regulation on who can supply energy, went under en masse this past winter. A lot were undercapitalised and didn't hedge enough given how record high prices came about even before Ukraine entered the news. The other part of it is, there just isn't any money in selling to households compared to businesses and the international market.

You might also want to consider what those profits are to be used for. Sure, the gov't could make it so that Centrica et al basically sell you energy at cost or any profits go straight back to the taxpayers. What, then, do you do about our incredibly antiquated and perilously close to zero excess capacity infrastructure? Do we just not invest in it any more?

Do you want your children to have a future where it isn't 4 hours of 'leccy a day and gas limited to heavy industry only in the week? If no, then they need to be invested in.

I should add, a large part of your bill is also tax on the need for renewable infrastructure investment. We can, as with the fuel duty tax, reduce or remove that entirely. The consequence of that would be that the companies will then definitely need to use their income to invest and the gov't will have much smaller takings to spend on the nation as a whole.

You can't get around this. Someone has to pay the ever increasing cost of energy. Now, do you want to do it at the energy supplier end or the taxation end?

I should add, a large part of your bill is also tax on the need for renewable infrastructure investment

A large part?

How much of a bill is made up of extra levies and what do you think they are for?

OH did the math and came up with a shower cost 73p plus the tax of 23p that was an Octopus account

Looking back in to it now, it appears lower than I expected. I was thinking it closer to the fuel duty percentage, but for dual fuel bills in domestic energy it's 8% of the total bill.

They're there to help fund investment in renewable energy and other initiatives to bring down carbon output and get us closer to net zero.

I wanted it at the bit where they made massive profits and didn't invest until it was too late and now we're picking up the shit. Whichever way you look at it we're being taken for mugs (not just in the UK) and the fat cats at the top are still sitting pretty. Hope they enjoy their champagne and caviar while people are literally worrying they will have to chose between heating and eating.

I'm aware the taxes are meant to improve the infrastructure however that hasn't gone so well has it? As far as I can see there's no provision made, just vague plans of perhaps a nuclear power station here or some fracking there,which of course won't happen as one wants it on their doorstep. Oh and talk of coal again which I thought is meant to be a big no no?

I don't expect prices never to rise BTW. Of course they have to, prices will always go up. But these rises are not manageable for even those on a middle income. And handing out cash is not the answer. A direct payment to bills or some sort of payment to the companies to reduce the unit cost for all would make more sense at this stage (I'm still not 100% convinced it should be needed but here we are!).

Anyway Liebig I've enjoyed our little debate, you've made some good points. But I'm knackered (hence the rambling maybe 🤣)and have bleated on enough for one night! Have a good night and cross your fingers with me that things will get better!

Not if it's already dead and dry on the ground - which is what you should be collecting. Also a year isn't necessary for narrow diameter branches
Had a burner for 24 years and never any issues 😊